The main story of the Olympics in the past few days has been US gymnastics. And no, it has not had anything to do with Simone Biles. Instead, another US gymnast, Jordan Chiles, has been at the center of controversy, and not for a good reason.
Chiles, who originally won the bronze medal during the floor exercise, has had her medal stripped by the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) after a ruling by the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) determined her coach had submitted an inquiry into her score too late and therefore, the inquiry was not valid.
The order of events goes as follows. During the floor finals, Chiles performed last. The order of performances is determined randomly. Chiles originally received a score of 13.666, but her coaches submitted an inquiry with the judging panel, arguing she should not have received a one-tenth deduction to her difficulty score for one particular skill. That means they basically said she deserved a higher score.
At the moment they submitted the inquiry, Chiles was fifth and out of medal contention. Ana Bărbosu, from Romania, was third and set to receive the bronze. After the inquiry, however, Chiles jumped to third place and was then awarded the bronze medal over Bărbosu.
What happened later is that the Romanian Federation took the case to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). Once there, since the court doesn’t allow anything other than procedural arguments, they argued that Chiles’ inquiry had been done outside of the allowed time – which for the last gymnast is one minute. They presented video evidence which seemed to show the inquiry was done at one minute and four seconds, which is why CAS stripped Chiles of the medal.
But, the plot thickens. Now, USA Gymnastics says they have evidence that the inquiry was submitted at 47 seconds and reiterated at 55 seconds, and they’re asking CAS to reconsider their decision and asking for Chiles’ medal to be returned.
Originally, the US and Romanian Federations had asked both the FIG and the IOC for their gymnasts to share a gold medal. Both refused. Now, we wait for a final decision.
In the meantime, Jordan Chiles has allegedly shared on her Instagram stories that she would be taking a break from social media.